In recent years, chicken raising has become highly refined. In addition, chicken meat has become highly popular because of its lack of fat, and its reduced cost because of economies developed in the raising of chickens. As a consequence, it has become highly common and profitable to prepare, package, and sell chicken. Because of its popularity as a food and its lack of fat, a high market has developed for chicken breasts, alone.
Since the market demands that the tenders be packaged alone, without other less desirable portions, a relatively high price can be obtained for this product. Diet-conscious customers are willing to pay a premium for such meat when so packaged, and thus the two tenders are the most valuable portion of the chicken. Because thereof, it is important that the tenders be scored as inexpensively and efficiently as possible, since they are in demand, and that all waste of that product be avoided.
The chicken has a bone or cartilage which extends downwardly and rearwardly beneath the breast and is known as the keel bone. The breast extends as two halves along opposite sides of the keel bone; one half on either side of the bone. Immediately behind each half of the breast, on each side of the keel bone, lies a tender. It has been found that, if access is made at the top or front end of the breast, and a knife is drawn downwardly at each side of the keel bone, the tenders can be quickly pulled downwardly and free. Such actions, however, frequently result in an objectionable loss of substantial portions of the tenders, unless deliberate care is taken to insure that the knife follows the contour of the keel bone very closely. To do so has heretofore consumed a prohibitive amount of time. With my knife assembly, I have found a way of quickly and easily following the contour of the keel bone, so as to sever the membrane connecting the tenders to the keel bone. Since the knives automatically adjust so as to follow the contour of the keel bone, there is substantially no loss of the meat and a minimum of effort is required.
To gain access to the tenders, the skin is opened with a knife at the point where the wings are jointed to the remainder of the chicken and the joints are severed. The skin is then pulled downwardly sufficiently far to expose the thighs. In doing so, the breast halves move downwardly with the skin, thereby exposing the keel of the keel bone, and the tenders lying alongside same.
Certain breeds of chicken have keel bones of more prevalent width than others. Most keel bones, at the upper or forward end, are about xe2x85x9 of an inch in width. Some keel bones, however, widen abruptly and extensively at a point about one fourth of the way towards its rear or lower end, and after extending downwardly a short distance with a similar width, will narrow again to a considerably more narrow width. Such irregular keel bones normally cause considerable waste. My knife assembly is particularly valuable for scoring the tenders from keel bones of such varying shapes.
My invention is designed to cause each of my pair of knives to follow the contour of the keel bone, despite the fact that the keel bone varies in width and at one point, at least, increases in width substantially for at least a short distance vertically. My new knife assembly is designed to cause the knives to initially move across the outer surface of the keel bone, and thereafter rapidly follow the side edges of the keel bone, thereby meeting the need for speed in completing the scoring operation. The knives move along, and follow, the above marked variances in the width of the keel bone, as the knives progress downwardly on opposite sides of the keel. As a consequence, the two tenders are cleanly severed from practically all connections to the keel bone, to thereby enable the scorer to quickly and easily complete that portion of the butchering operation of the chicken without any substantial loss of portions of the tenders.
The upper end of the keel bone of the chicken is located adjacent the point at which the neck joins the main body of the chicken, and just below and behind the wishbone or pulley bone, as referred to in the art. At that point there is a membrane which covers the tenders and holds them in place along the keel bone and behind the two breast halves. This membrane must be pierced so as to gain access to the area immediately above and behind the two tenders, so that the scorer can readily remove the two tenders by inserting his thumb and fore-finger above and behind the tenders, and exerting a downward pull thereupon. The two tenders will thereupon readily come entirely free of the keel bone, and become available for packaging. The forward points of my knives are spaced about three-sixteenths of an inch, so as to facilitate piercing that membrane at the proper locations. The rearmost portions of my knives are spaced about one-quarter of an inch.
My chicken tender scoring knife assembly is characterized by a pair of separate half-handle elements, each of which has a forward end portion upon which a knife member is mounted. Each knife member extends substantially parallel to its opposite knife member and its point terminates opposite that of the other knife. The two knife half-handle elements extend substantially parallel to and are spaced from each other, about three-sixteenths to one-quarter of an inch. A yieldable biasing means in the form of a spring member extends between the forward end portions of the two half-handle elements and maintains them and their supported knives in spaced, substantial parallel relation.
Adjacent the rear end portions of the half-handle elements is a connector means in the form of a threaded pin having a head, which is mounted with a sloppy fit in the right-hand half-handle. This pin extends across, to and through the left-hand half-handle to which it is fixedly secured by a nut. A plastic bushing surrounds the portion of the pin which extends within the right-hand half-handle with a slight amount of spacing therebetween, to provide a loose fit which permits the half-handle element having the sloppy or loose fit to rock about a transverse vertical axis. This rocking action permits the forward portions of the two half-handles, and the knives mounted thereon, to move toward and away from each other within restricted limits, and enables the scorer to draw the knives downwardly along both sides of the keel bone, to thereby cut the tenders free at their point of juncture with that bone. This greatly reduces the waste and loss of valuable meat and greatly facilitates the tender-scoring operation. Several alignment blocks are mounted on the inside surface of one of the half-handles, at its rear end portion, to aid in maintaining the two knives in alignment during the rocking action, as they are moved by the scorer in the tender-scoring action described above.
Thus, it is clear that a primary object of my invention is to provide a self-adjusting chicken tender-scoring knife assembly which will function most efficiently in effecting a tender-scoring operation, in less time and with a minimum of effort, while minimizing the loss of portions of the most valuable sections of the chicken.
Another object is to minimize the amount of time required to score the chicken tenders during a scoring operation of the chicken.
A further object is to provide a chicken-scoring tool which is inexpensive and yet highly effective in minimizing loss of valuable portions of the tenders of the chicken, and at the same time reducing the amount of time required to complete the removal of the tenders from the remainder of the body of the chicken.